It is well known that in the aging process of the human body, the facial skin tends to droop and become flabby with the development of wrinkles in the skin and hollowness in certain facial regions. Many persons desire to retain or restore the firmness and evenness of the facial contour which is associated with youth. Surgical face-lifting has long been a common practice and is effective to tighten the facial skin. However, as a result of tightening the skin by this technique, the skin is caused to support the underlying muscle. If it is lacking in tone, it is lengthened and droopy and is the major contributing cause of wrinkled and droopy facial skin. Since the skin is not adapted to support the underlying muscles, this creates an even stronger tendency for the skin to droop and wrinkle. Consequently, the surgical face-lift provides a temporarily tightened facial skin with the appearance of a lift of the facial contour; however, it also starts the process of drooping and wrinkling over again.
It is understood that the contour of the face is determined by the condition of the muscles beneath the skin. When the muscles underlying the facial skin are strong and have good tone, the skin is tight and smooth and the face has a youthful appearance. However, as the facial muscles lose tone, by reason of aging or lack of proper exercise, the muscles elongate and droop or sag. This results in a change of facial contour with attendant wrinkles in the skin.
In the prior art, several techniques have been developed for the purpose of improving muscle tone with the purpose of preventing or removing wrinkles in the skin. The known prior art is as follows.
The Rooney Pat. No. 4,189,141 granted Feb. 19, 1980 discloses a facial exercise mask which is made of an elastic two-way stretch cloth material. Weights of metal are enclosed in pockets in the mask at selected positions such as the brow, temple and cheek. With the mask in place, the wearer performs prescribed muscle exercises.
The Robins U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,732 granted June 4, 1968 describes a facial exercise device comprising a mouthpiece which is inserted between the lip and the gum area to serve as a reaction member. Selected muscles are exercised by tensioning and relaxing against the mouthpiece. The Robins U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,493 granted July 29, 1968 discloses a device for muscle exercising which is applied to the forehead to provide a resilient resistance to movement of selected muscles.
In a publication by Runge, a method of isometric facial exercises is described to tighten elongated muscles and thereby produce a lift for the facial contour where the muscles have atrophied. See Face-Lifting By Exercise, Senta Maria Runge, Allegro Publishing Company, 1980. In this method of isometric facial exercise, a selected muscle is worked against a resistance which is applied at the point of muscle function, i.e. the point at which the muscle is attached to the skin. In the execution of the exercise, the entire face is to be relaxed and only the selected muscle is moved. For example, a set of exercises is described for lifting and firming the upper cheeks and for removing the furrows of the laugh lines. For this purpose, the muscles known as the quadratus, labii, superioris, and zygomaticus are selected for exercise. Each of these muscles extends from the area of the temples and the eye-ring muscles toward the nose and mouth. These upper cheek muscles are attached to the skin along a line which extends from the side of the nose to the corresponding side of the mouth, a line which is referred to as the laugh line which curves at a place called the smile line. Preliminary to the isometric exercises, the location of the individual muscles is marked with a suitable make-up pencil and the person practices moving each of the muscles independently and in combination. For the isometric exercise, the thumbs are placed inside the mouth under the laugh line and the points of action of the muscles are held by placing the forefingers along the laugh line and gripping the muscles between the thumb and fore finger. The laugh line is pulled downwardly slightly and held fixed as the point of resistance for the muscle movement. Then, the four muscles, for example, are contracted together as by forming a smile; the muscle contraction being executed in distinct steps from the relaxed state to complete contraction. Then, the muscles are returned by stepped movement to the starting position and the finger resistance is removed. This exercise is repeated a predetermined number of times. Similarly, isometric exercises are described for the upper cheek muscles individually or in combination.
Facial exercises which are executed without imposing special resistance to muscle movement, except for gravity, are described in a book by Craig. Face Saving Exercises, Craig, Random House, 1970. One or more exercises are provided for each different facial area such as the forehead--scalp, eyelids, nose, cheeks, upper lip and mouth, chin and jaw line, and underchin and throat. In the exercises for removing forehead wrinkles and to lift drooping eyebrows, an exercise is described for the frontalis muscle and for the occipitalis. The frontalis muscle extends upwardly from the eyebrows to join with the tendinous fibers of the scalp and the occipitalis muscle extends from the rear of the scalp to the base of the skull. The exercise is executed by the person lying face up on a bed with the head hanging over the edge for the purpose of applying the force of gravity in the desired direction. The exercise comprises contracting the frontalis muscle to raise the eyebrows as high as possible then returning the eyebrows to the normal position and repeating the exercise a prescribed number of time.
In Natural Face Lift by Saffon, Warner Books, 1979, facial exercises are described for removing wrinkles by massaging the muscles with the hands. For example, to develop the frontalis muscle and smooth the forehead, the balls of both hands are used to massage the forehead by moving the hands in opposite directions to move the muscle while stretching the skin as little as possible. After completing this exercise and similar exercises for the forehead, tape is applied to the forehead. The tape acts as a remainder not to gesture or scowl with the forehead and is said to prevent additional lines from forming above the eyebrows. The recommended tape is microporous surgical tape of three-quarter inch width. Three strips of overlapping tape are applied to the forehead and extend from temple-to-temple and a fourth overlapping tape extends between the eyebrows.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved method of exercising the facial muscles.